There was no contest in Bethlehem Catholic senior Anna Petke’s capture of the District XI Class 2A diving crown, leading her competitors by a minimum of 64 points and by as much as 112 points at the end of the six-dive meet on Feb. 25 at Emmaus High School.

“My goal was to do well on each one of my dives,” Petke said. “My back dive and my inward one-and-a-half were probably my best dives. They were very smooth, they came off the board very well, and I just put them in really nicely.”

Diving coach Emily Kocis agreed with Petke’s assessment of her best dives.

“We don’t really see too much of the 2A competition until today, so like Anna said, we’re just making sure that Anna’s dives are the best that Anna can do, not worrying about anybody else,” Kocis said.

Petke dives with Liberty’s team since Bethlehem Catholic doesn’t have one. Since Liberty is a Class 3A team, Petke only sees the 3A diving schools during the season.

At the district meet, Petke scored 219.85 points and received the gold medal. Tamaqua’s Mia Jones won silver with 166.50 points. Bronze went to North Schuylkill’s Joyce Burian with 156.30 points, and a fourth-place medal was awarded to Blue Mountain’s Kamryn Moran with 155.85 points.

Petke’s dives were back dive pike, front double, inward one-and-a-half, reverse dive pike, front one-and-a-half, and back twister one-and-a-half.

There were 11 divers in all.

Coach Kocis is becoming a decorated district medalist in her own right, coaching several medal-winning divers over the last few years.

“I’m proud of my accomplishment, but I really think a lot of it is more toward the girls, and their attitude, and their willingness, no matter how good or how bad a practice or a meet, to return to practice and just move past the bad meet or practice to just focus on their dives and win,” she said.

Petke and Jones will compete in the PIAA Class 2A State Diving Championship in March at Bucknell University.